Really? The ACA? That's what you are going with?
A Tennessee school district is making the news after it was announced the
entire school district was closing up until further notice due to lack of funding. It is unimaginable this could happen in the United States, right? Especially so abruptly, in the middle of the school year, leaving parents and students in a lurch.
Clay County Director of Schools Jerry Strong has offered an explanation for the shocking closure. Inept management? Nope. Inability to pass local taxes to support the school? Oh, no way. The head of Clay County schools says the whole thing is due to Obamacare:
"Clay County's inability to generate the revenue to offset the mandates is what's caused this to come to a head," he said. "The straw that broke the camel's back was really the Affordable Care Act for us and it has made it very difficult for us to have our employees properly covered and meet the mandates of the law. That was going to require new revenue and the commission felt like they couldn't do that through a tax increase."
Strong said the county commission, which funds the schools, has declined to increase property taxes and a proposed wheel tax referendum vote won't take place until March.
Thanks, Obama! Through your insidious plan to get affordable healthcare for educators, you have forced their hand. For a party that once touted themselves as the "party of responsibility," they sure seem lack any personal accountability for their own misdeeds. Clay County, Tennessee residents aren't doing themselves any favors here either. Consistently identified as one of the
most impoverished counties in the entire nation, they've turned extremely Republican in recent years. The district, which
Vice President Al Gore once represented, has gone "severely conservative" in recent years. The county went
overwhelming for Romney in 2012 (62/37) and they elected
Tea Party Republican Diane Black to Congress in the "Tea Party wave" of 2010.
For now, Clay County residents appear to be reaping what they sowed. It is just too sad that the biggest losers in all of this are the children of Clay County. Students like high school senior Chanah Sherrell just want to be in class:
“I’ve heard them say how awesome they don’t have to go to school,” she said. “I just want to get it done, finish, go to college.”
For the foreseeable future, they'll remain out of school while the so-called adults continue to bicker about how to properly fund their schools. Shame on y'all.
